Thematic Area
Thematic Area
Thematic Area
Cyprus creates maritime centre in line with PortEconomics members recommendations
Cyprus is already putting into effect the first recommendations of a study by a team involving PortEconomics members Thanos Pallis and George Vaggelas, and partners, that aims to help the country rekindle growth as a shipping centre after several flat years. The study, prepared after a government tender, has put forward a five-point action plan designed to boost the island against the claims of other maritime hubs and open ship registries at a time of industry volatility and heightened competition. Blueprint for Action The recommendations...
Thematic Area
The Analyst: under one roof
APM Terminals has announced that it will invest more than $2bn in a new port in Nigeria, its largest single investment in a port ever. Peter de Langen through his column "The Analyst" in Port Strategy comments: "What sets this investment apart from others it has made is that APMT will develop both the container terminal and other activities. The Nigeria investment marks "a strategic shift to multi ports", said the operator. "It means we will supplement our own experience in container ports with the establishment of a free zone, an oil port...
Thematic Area
Transshipment hubs: connecting global and regional maritime shipping networks
By Jean-Paul Rodrigue Why Transshipment? Ideally, a passenger wishing to fly from one city to another would prefer to have a direct flight. However, this is not commonly the case unless one is using the largest airports in the world such as London, Paris. New York, Hong Kong or Dubai. Even from these airports, direct flights to a wide range of destinations would not be available. The most common reason is that there is not enough volume to justify a direct service with some level of frequency. Therefore, to cope with these constraints...
Thematic Area
Cooperation and vertical integration in cruise ports
The cruise sector is one of the fastest growing market segments in shipping and seaport activities. However, the high level of market concentration and the geographical concentration of passenger flows at departure ports and destinations lead to possible congestion and delays in handling cruise vessels and passenger services. The increasing importance of coordination, cooperation, and vertical/horizontal integration may effectively impact the performance of cruise lines, cruise ports, and involved service providers. The scale of vertical...
Thematic Area
Characterizing the cycle in seaports: An Australian case study
With approximately 90% of global trade in volume being carried by sea, seaports are a core strategic resource driving the regional economy within the context of globalization and trade boom. Yet, seaports are not well integrated with mainstream economics and efforts to quantitatively analyze seaports' activity with the use of basic economic concepts remain very limited. Business cycles are considered a profound economic theory and, stimulate a wide area of research and the formulation of indicators of economic activity. To day, the cyclicality...
Thematic Area
European Port Policy: time for the EP to decide is approaching
European Port Policy is heading to a new phase, as the Transport Committee is getting ready to debate the Port regulation proposal. The rapporteur of the European Parliament, MEP Knut Fleckenstein (S&D, Germany) published his new draft report on the Port Regulation proposal and shadows and other TRAN MEPs have written down their views in more than 600 additional amendments. Wheres Mr Fleckenstein is the rapporteur in charge since the early phases of the European Commission proposal in 2013, most shadow rapporteurs have changed...
Thematic Area
Cruise port market dynamics: The Med
The Meditteranean and its adjoining seas have transformed to a multi-port cruise region hosting several millions of passenger movements, with the intra-region dynamics remaining unexplored. In their latest study, PortEconomics co-director Thanos Pallis along with Kleopatra Arapi (University of the Aegean), generates knowledge on the patterns, structures, and growth geography in the second biggest cruise port in the last decade (2005-2014). The analysis of the passenger movements data provided by 69 cruise ports detail the port...
Thematic Area
Traffic decline in container ports: the exception or the new normal?
By Theo Notteboom Recently, Hamburg announced that container throughput in the Elbe port saw a decline of 6.8% in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period last year, mainly caused by a sharp decrease in the trade volumes with Russia and China. The container business is generally considered as a growth sector. Over the past decades, ports around the world have become used to welcoming traffic growth year after year. A decline in container traffic is considered as unusual. But how often have ports reported cargo losses over the...
Thematic Area